Thursday, April 30, 2009

I've actually been feeling pretty well the last few days, for once. I've spent a lot of time with my friend Lori and my friend Jonathan. It has been beautiful outside and warm. Summer is right around the corner and I'm super excited about that. Except for one thing: my new arch nemesis, the GUT. I've spoken about this horrid new lump of lard around my middle quite a few times on here lately.

How the hell am I supposed to squeeze this body into my bikinis? Something has to change, and quickly! I plan on spending most of my summer down at the pool. And I refuse to go down there looking like this. I'm not used to having a huge belly and it's really pissing me off. If I outgrow one more pair of jeans or shorts, I think I'm going to scream until I can't breathe and pass out. The other day I put on a Small thong and 4 hours later, I had painful deep indentations in my skin from the elastic in it!!! I'm surprised I wasn't numb from the ass down!

The time is now people. My body is sending out a Fat Kid Alert that has reached the infamous level of Code "Red Twizzler." I've decided that this calls for drastic measures. YES, folks, MORE EXERCISE. I bought a mat and pilates dvd from Wal Mart. I am going to attempt to do some pilates. This, in addition to the treadmill, will hopefully help to erase some of this gut. *fingers crossed* If anyone has any suggestions of something I can do to help me tighten my stomach (aka lose this pony keg) that isn't too taxing on my breathing, please let me know.

While I may be having trouble adjusting to this new tub o' lard, there is one not so horrible side effect that I'm experiencing. My tits have become gi-normous!!!!!!! I have noticed it a bit, off and on, but I didn't realize just how much larger they are until I went out to dinner last night with Lori and her mother. As usual, my only shorts were dirty due to the fact that I only have 2 pairs of shorts that fit me now. (both bought recently b/c I outgrew all my others) Because it was so hot outside, I wanted something cool to wear, so I put on one of my favorite dresses that is both comfortable and cute. I knew that it showed a little cleavage, but hey, I was feeling good and spring is in the air, so why not show off a little, right? Well, I had no idea the surprise I was about to get. As I pulled on my dress, thankful that it still fit in the first place, I was shocked when my tits damn near popped out to blind me! THEY LOOKED HUGE!!!!!!!!!!

Floored, I was both a little self concsious and gleefully excited as I peered down at my massive cleavage in awe. The new and improved twins were here and ready to flaunted!!! And apparantly, they weren't going to take no for an answer!

So kiddies, the moral to my story is, God really DOES answer prayers! (hahahhahahah) So never stop praying! :)

I hope you are all having a great week! Stay away from that evil Swine Flu!!!!!

This is the dress that I wore last night at dinner. But, almost a year ago. lol

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Greetings from Hollywood! Okay, well maybe not HOLLYWOOD, but hey, a girl can dream can’t she?!

My interview on Tues. morning went good. Kimberly Van Scoy was super cool and nice. And she is so pretty! She’s such a natural at her job. I was sooo nervous at first but she quickly put me at ease. It’s not everyday that you have a big ass t.v. camera pointed on you while you’re being interviewed.

I posted the video link on my facebook page. Aside from the fact that I looked like I ate my weight in food before the interview and that I sounded like Brittany Spears with asthma, all in all, I think the interview was a success. Y’all check it out and tell me what you think! Click on the link below!

Moving right along, yesterday I had to go to Chapel Hill to get my I.V. yanked, see the doctor and go to support group. Now I am officially I.V. free and couldn’t be happier! WOOO HOOO! I would like to thank Percocet, for which I would have never been able to get through the painful first few days of the I.V. or the painful removal of said I.V.

I had a good doctor’s visit, everything went well on that front. Then we barely had enough time to get to the support group meeting before it started.

It was a great meeting. The transplant surgeon Dr. Haithcock spoke and I learned a lot that I didn’t know before hand, about rejection and other transplant related things. He is very down to earth and I feel confident in his abilities as a surgeon.

Then, after group, Jonathan and I (my friend who took me to chapel hill) went out to dinner with Victoria and her fam. to Ruby Tuesdays. Mmmm my favorite! I got my favorite meal and enjoyed every last minute of it.

We finally got home last night around 11 p.m. and I was exhausted. I’d had a long day. But, instead of going straight to sleep like I planned, what did I do when I got home? I stayed up ‘til 3:00 A.M. playing fuckin’ Farm Town in Facebook! Arrgghhh!!! Those animals don’t wanna be fenced in for shit!!! I was determined that I wasn’t going to lay down ‘til I had at least 3 of them in the fence. And that’s exactly what I did. Meghann – 1, Animals – 0.

I’m falling asleep. So I better go before I end up face down in this laptop. Toodles!

Monday, April 20, 2009

I know it’s been a little while since I wrote. I haven’t had a lot of motivation lately. I’ve just been sitting around and sleeping a lot. And adjusting to being truly single for the first time in almost four years. Although I’ve been tired a lot and unmotivated, I feel like I’m emotionally in a good place for the first time in a long time. I wouldn’t say I’m happy, per say, but closer than I’ve come in a long time. I’m looking forward to the future with new lungs and new experiences.

Here’s the big news….Kimberly Van Scoy of Channel 11 news is coming to my house tomorrow morning to interview me!!! She wants to hear my story and talk about organ donation, etc. I’m excited but really nervous! She will be here at 8:00 a.m. so that means I have to get up at like 6:30 so Mom can help me fix my hair! I hope I don’t make a fool of myself! Wish me luck!

On the transplant front, my coordinator called me the other day and told me that my L.A.S. (Lung Allocation Score for those of you that aren’t familiar with the lung transplant lingo) did, in fact, go up a bit. So yay!!!! It’s still not very high compared to most folks, but any increase is better than nothing. Right?

My pulmonologist called me the other day and told me that my Tobrimyacin levels were too high, so she told me to stop taking it!!! Yay! No more I.V. antibiotics. So right now, all I have to do is flush it once a day until Wed. Then on Wed. I have an appointment to get it yanked in the Vascular lab and then I have an appointment with her (my pulmonologist) at 3:30.

Then, after my pulmo. appt. I’m meeting Victoria and the fam for dinner and then it’s off to support group at 6:00. Dr. Haithcock is speaking. (he’s one of the lung transplant surgeons) I’m looking forward to support group since I haven’t actually been in person in a while.

Anyway, that’s all that’s been going on with me lately, so if you didn’t know, now you know!!! :) I’ll catch y’all later!

Monday, April 13, 2009

I hope everyone is having a happy Easter long weekend! My weekend has been pretty good. Well aside from having this IV in my arm still!

On Saturday my brother and I went to Carborro to my friend Tiffany’s Lungiversary party. It was to celebrate the 5 year anniversary of her 2nd double lung transplant! Even though I wasn’t feeling all that great physically, I wanted to attend anyway! I’d been looking forward to it. I gave her a pretty silver organ donation ribbon pendant that was covered with green cubic zirconias. I bought myself one too. :) She loved it, so that was good!

We had dinner at this neat restaurant called Southern Rail or Railway, can’t remember exactly. The tables were in train cars. The food was pretty good, especially the nachos! Then after dinner we went next door to a bar called the Station. It was awesome b/c it was was smoke free! YAY!!! My friend Victoria (Garran’s mom) met everyone at the bar, so it was good to see her again.

We stayed until around 10 pm then left to go home. I was getting tired and needed to do my IV antibiotic. I hooked up to the IV in the car. It only takes about 30-45 for the medicine to finish.

Sunday morning, I went to church with my Mom for Easter. She bought me a new dress to wear! So I felt pretty for once. :) Despite the IV. But then again, perhaps it was the perfect accessory! HEHE :) But, I had had a sleep episode, so I was so tired during church that I kept falling asleep and dropping my program. OOps! :)

We ate a really good lunch! I’m actually going to eat leftovers for dinner in a little while. It was very tasty.

Friday, April 10, 2009

You won’t believe what I got tonight!!! A new laptop!!! Holy shit! I’m in shock myself! Its pretty! It’s a long story how it became to be mine. But, I’m fucking stoked!!! Now I just need new lungs and all will be right with the world!!!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

I've been paroled! I'm finally home after 4 days of being in the hospital. I'm feeling a lot better, although of course not 100%. Probably won't be feeling that way until sometime after I finish my course of IV antibiotics. I'm having to do them at home. :-( Which sucks, but it's better than being inpatient in the hospital.

Although, I would be lying if I said that I didn't miss seeing my beautiful, sexy male doctors that were looking after me during my incarceration. :) Oh man. They were so sexy. I will miss them. *sigh*

I was so relieved b/c I didn't have any sleep episodes in the hospital. But, what happens when i get home? Last night I had a really bad one! I was so out of it when I woke, that the guy that brought my IV meds gave me the paper to sign and i just stared at it, trying to get my head together. It took me like 10 minutes to sign my name. He had to re explain it to me like 3 times b/c my head was so messed up. I couldnt focus my eyes and i kept falling asleep! It was horrible.

So then I got up and the nurse came to do my first IV dose. Then I went back to sleep. And had ANOTHER one! :-( I don't understand why it didn't happen at the hospital for 4 nights, but then I come home and it happens twice in 24 hours. :-( Oh well.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

I'm writing from the nurse's computer in my hospital room. So YAYYYYYYYYYYYY! I have the net!!! But, right when I thought God was smiling down on me and blessing me with internet access, I was bitchslapped in the face. B/c some bitch ass at the hospital decided to block Facebook!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It won't even let you open the site! So, me, being the sneaky sneakster that I am, thought perhaps I could hack into the browser or internet settings and fix it. But they even blocked access to the fuck'n settings!!!! Bastards! They are so cruel!

I have to quit talking about it or I'm going to cry...so...

They've started me on IV tobi and levaqin. I get the tobi at 9 am, the levaquin at 10 am and then the Tobi again at 9pm. And of course I get to hit the albuterol pipe like 3 or 4 times a day, follwed by chest PT's. So far the blood work has come back and they said it all looks great. So that's good. Now they're waiting to read the results of the chest x-ray and the sputum culture. I hope they come back as okay too.

I've had to be hooked up to their bipap machine b/c I didn't bring mine. Smart move , I know. So the mask they have here is insane. I fought hard with it and eventually won the battle and was able to get some much needed sleep.

I have 2 really hot Dr.'s. One is German, straight off the boat and he has the most beautiful eyes. I want to marry him and have his little blue eyed german babies. The other one is really cute as well. I cant remember their names, but they are freakin hot.

So all in all, my spirits are still up and I'm feeling a bit better already. I'll post again later probably, seeing as how I'm bored and there is no facebook. :-(

Friday, April 3, 2009

*sigh* Once again, I'm going into the hospital to start some IV antibiotics. Right on cue. It seems to always happen in April. It's like my lungs have a force field around them that lasts only 11 months. Then, at some point during the 12th month (usually within the first 2 weeks) I'm forced to go into the "big house" for some much needed IV rejuvenation.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to get online while I'm there. I probably doubt it, since my laptops don't work right now. I'm supposed to be there over the weekend, then hopefully get a PICC line on Monday and go home to finish the rest of the IV treatment at home.

I've been hacking non stop and wheezing like a bitch. I've slept a total of 3 hours within the last 2 days. And all 3 of those were night before last. My temp has been fluctuating between 99.4 and 100. I look and feel like utter horse shit.

Anyway, I'll write whenever I get a chance, which will probably be when I get home. Although I'm praying that the Internet Gods will smile on me and I'll somehow be able to come online at some point during my incarceration.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

This morning I woke up after having a very interesting dream. I dreamed that I had gotten my transplant! Only things went a lot differently than I expected them to go.

First of all, the incision went completely around my body. ALL the way around. In a circle. And it was super painful afterward. I could barely move at all. Every time I lifted my arms or leaned over or leaned to the side or anything, it hurt.

Another very unrealistic thing was that they sent me home on the 2nd day! They were just like, "Okay bye!" Of course, I didn't fight them on it, but after I got home, I started to feel a little scared and unsure. B/c they didn't even give me any directions or tell me how to take care of myself. They didn't even give me my prescriptions for my meds! And I remember being very worried b/c I realized that I didn't have any masks to wear over my face when I left the house.

The dream was very bizarre. But, I hope it means that I will get my call soon. But, I pray that it doesn't happen the way it did in the dream. I know my center would never send me home unprepared though!

I finally heard back from my doctor today and she put me on Levaquin. BOOOOO! I've been wheezing like a bitch and I had to smoke my Albuterol pipe tonight for the first time in like 6 months. I just pray that I'm not feeling yucky on Saturday! I don't want to have to miss the Donate Life Walk that I'm supposed to volunteer at.

Tonight, Mom and I watched that movie Seven Pounds, with Will Smith. I honestly don't know what to say about that movie. It wasn't bad...but...It just...shit, I don't know what to say. I'm speechless. Which, as you all know, rarely happens. But, it's definitely worth seeing. So if you haven't seen it, check it out.

RE-Introducing....

I'm a 29 yr. old female who had a lung disease called Bronchiectasis for 17 years. On Father's Day, June 21, 09, I recieved a double lung transplant at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, NC. Weeeeeeee I can breathhhheee!